How Not To Teach Crochet – Guest Post by Marie Segares

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book for my review but was not financially compensated in any way to write a favorable review. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own. 

Hi everyone! I have a special treat for you today. A fellow blogger/crochet designer and friend of mine, Marie Segares from Underground Crafter, has written an amazing book called Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students. I am going to give you a brief review of her book and then she has provided an amazing guest post for us about “How Not To Teach Crochet.” Make sure to stick around after the post for an awesome giveaway too!

Title: Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students
Author: Marie Segares
Published by: Creative yarn Entrepreneur, LLC, New York, New York
Format: eBook, 92 pages
Published: June 6, 2016

Make Money Teaching Crochet is an amazing resource for those that are teaching crochet or thinking about starting a career in teaching crochet. In the first section of the book, Marie presents several questions that will help you establish short-term goals and long-term plans for your crochet teaching business. She asks questions such as “Why do you want to teach crochet?” and “What do you want to teach?” to help guide you through setting up a long-term plan for your business.

Marie goes on to discuss both crocheting and presentation/pubic speaking skills. She also discusses other types of qualities and skills one should consider when going into the crochet teaching business, such as organization skills, confidence, energy, and diplomacy. She also touches upon certifications and obtaining other credentials.

In Section 2, Marie discusses the business side of teaching crochet. She discusses formalizing your business and goes a little more in-depth about the different business types. Marie also goes into pricing, taxes, payment options, and creating policies to protect yourself and your business.

In Sections 3 and 4, Marie discusses marketing your business and preparing to teach, respectively. Section 5 is definitely a very important section. Marie provides a detailed list of resources to help you start and run your crocheting teaching business.

Marie is very straightforward when it comes to discussing the ins and outs of teaching crochet. She is open and honest about the time and dedication that it takes to start and grow a business. She also shares so much of her knowledge and insight that she has gained through experience as well as trial and error. My favorite part of the book are the little CRO-PRO tips that are scattered throughout the book. These tips are additional strategies and tactics that Marie has deduced through the years.

This book is presented in an eBook format and is available in several formats. The Workbook Edition includes 15 additional worksheets and forms, while the Ultimate Printable Edition includes 15 additional worksheets and 5 additional customizable forms for your teaching business.

You can purchase Marie’s book in these formats:

• Kindle eBook
• Kobo eBook
• Workbook Edition (paper)
• Ultimate Printable Edition eBook.

You can get the Ultimate Printable Edition eBook for 25% off until July 4th with this link: 25% Off Sale

I loved every section, tip, resource, and piece of knowledge that Marie provided in Make Money Teaching Crochet. I have been asked many times over the years to teach and I have always considered it but never followed through. With Marie’s tips and advice, I feel like I may be ready to set some goals for myself and step into the teaching business soon!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Learn how to ‘Make Money Teaching Crochet’ with this amazing new book by Marie Segares @ucrafter!” quote=”Learn how to ‘Make Money Teaching Crochet’ with this amazing new book by Marie Segares” theme=”style6″]

Now Marie will provide us with some more of her knowledge on how NOT to teach crochet!

---

I’m Marie Segares from Underground Crafter and the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show and I’m so happy to get to hang out with Amy and The Stitchin’ Mommy readers today!

I’ve been teaching crochet locally and regionally for the past 8 years and I’ve learned A LOT since I started out. If you’re thinking of teaching crochet, let me share some of my biggest blunders with you so you can avoid them.

How Not To Teach Crochet

• Don’t prepare: Before I “officially” started teaching crochet, I tried to teach one of my best friends to crochet. Instead of thinking ahead about how to explain a chain or about beginner-friendly ways to make a slip knot, I just stuck a hook in her hand and went to town. Luckily, she’s my friend so she forgave my terrible lesson (and I got to learn a lot, too).
  If you want to seriously teach crochet, be sure to prepare for every lesson to make the best impression on your students and so you don’t lose your cool if they are struggling.
• Don’t think about what’s important to you and your business: When I first started teaching, I was happy to get more experience so I sometimes took on jobs that weren’t going to help me reach my business goals. I worked at venues that didn’t pay enough per hour or where I had to use a curriculum that I didn’t think was valuable to students. Once I had more clear goals, I could say no to jobs that didn’t fit into my business plan.
• Don’t consider travel time: In the past, I wouldn’t always remember to consider travel time when accepting teaching jobs. I once taught weekly lessons to a private student that was over an hour away! Now I add a travel surcharge or charge a higher hourly rate if I have to commute far to teach so I can make the class worthwhile for me.
• Let students “get under your skin”: Almost every teacher has had a student that just rubs you the wrong way. It may be the student’s personality, or the topics (like religion or politics) s/he likes to chat about while crocheting. It’s easy to get sidetracked when you have one of these students in a group class. Instead, focus on teaching and remember that you don’t have to be best friends with your students, you just have to teach them to crochet.

I hope this helps you to avoid making the same mistakes as I did when I started teaching crochet. Thank you, Amy, for inviting me to visit The Stitchin’ Mommy today!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to avoid some mistakes when teaching #crochet? Hear from expert Marie Segares of @ucrafter!” quote=”Want to avoid some mistakes when teaching #crochet? Hear from expert Marie Segares of @ucrafter!” theme=”style6″]

Author Bio

Marie Segares is a crochet and knitting teacher, designer, blogger, and podcaster. She hosts the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show, the podcast where you can find great ideas for launching, managing, and evolving your yarn-related business, and shares her patterns, tips, and projects on the Underground Crafter blog. Since she began teaching crochet part time in 2008, she has taught hundreds of beginners to crochet and helped even more improve their skills. Marie is a professional member of, and volunteer blogger for, the Crochet Guild of America, a designer/teacher member of The Knitting Guild Association, and an affiliate member of The National NeedleArts Association. Marie is a graduate of Barnard College and earned master’s degrees from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and New York University Stern School of Business. She lives in New York City.

---

And now for our giveaway! A special thanks to Marie for providing a copy of Make Money Teaching Crochet: The Ultimate Printable Edition!

To enter the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter form below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

---

Do you want to learn more about how to make money teaching crochet? Follow the Crochet Book Blog Tour to each of the following blogs for inside tips and tricks, guest posts, interviews and more chances to win your own copy of:

Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students.